Inspired To Have A Year Of Less | 2019

I’m not about to set resolutions or goals or targets. I find that if I feel I absolutely have to complete something then that’s when the stress kicks in. And I am all about a year of less in 2019 – stress being one thing.

I caught up with Ami’s Instagram stories a few days ago and she was talking about 2019 being a year of less and it resonated so much with me and I just knew it was absolutely something I needed to be tapping into – you can check her blog post out here. My head is a crowded minefield at the best of times and I often find that when there’s more of everything, I feel like my brain can’t fit it all in and it becomes too big for my skull and it hurts. I get really bad tension, suffer with muscular pain where I’m so tense all the time which in turn traps nerves and I really, really need to learn to let go this year.

While this is a post about this being the year of less everything, it also means that to balance it out there must be ‘more’ of other things.

A Year Of Less Waste/Spending

I really want to get on top of our waste this year. Whether it’s clothes, books, gifts or household items I’m really hoping to buy second hand, potentially do some swapping with likeminded people and sell our good, but no longer good for us, items. I’m hoping eBay will become my friend in the coming weeks – the aim is to get a minimum of 5 items on per week so that we can declutter while making and saving a bit of money and also clearing out space. Anything that doesn’t get sold will get donated because it just won’t have a place here. I’ve tried selling a few bits on Facebook but it’s so awkward – “Can you deliver to 5,000 miles away?”, “Will you take 50p?”. Just, no.

In terms of food, I’m hoping to plan a good chunk of our meals throughout the weeks. Spontaneity is great but it often leads to us rushing out last minute to grab one or two items, a scramble around in the freezer or even a load of food going in the bin because it’s not been used up properly or in time. There are also quite a few weeks/months in the year where mine and my husband’s diets will pose a conflict of interest but we’re just going to have to manage and manipulate our meals to suit each other.

A Year Of Less Clutter

Our house feels full of it. I tend to hold on to things that I think will come in handy at some point, or I tell myself it’s going to get used when it reality it’s sat there for another year and I’m still looking at it! A huge chunk of this will be solved once our extension is finished. We’ll finally have an office, studio room and our new kitchen/diner that homes plenty of storage and nothing will be going in those rooms that need not be there.

So far my plan is to declutter the house room by room and do it thoroughly. I’m very aware I need to be ruthless about what we keep. Clutter isn’t good for anyone, and I know it’s not good for feeling like it’s clouding my head up.

This also includes clothes. Jamie has a huge amount of clothes that tend to be sat around for the majority of the year so I’ve bought some vacuum pack bags which means his hoodies will be sorted as well as our duvets, blankets and summer clothes (we won’t be needing those for a few months, eh?!).

The other thing I want to sort out properly are the boys memory boxes. They’re just in plastic containers at the moment but I feel like a decent sort out of all the things in there needs to be done as well as sorting out some proper storage for them as I’m worried about things getting damp and damaged.

A Year Of Less Pressure

Less pressure on myself. I always strive to be this organised, domestic goddess super mum who has her shit under control. The reality is that in my head I am so organised but very little of it ever comes to fruition because I’m SO knackered and don’t have the get up and go. And I know I’m privy to the odd hour or five of procrastination – which is always later regretted – but it’s hard not to get sidetracked with everything else that needs my attention.

I’m always so hard on myself and so instead of thinking of the things I haven’t got done, I’m going to tell myself I’ve done everything I can for the day and remind myself of the things I have managed to get done – and if that is only getting dressed then that’s a win in my books.

A Year Of Less Procrastination

This year I want to be more proactive. I’m planning my weeks, especially the days when I’m down to one child, and instead of setting daily tasks I’m setting weekly ones so that if something doesn’t get done on that particular day, I know I’ve got the rest of the week to get it done and it’s working so far (she says, 8 days in…).

If I think of something that needs doing, or that I need to think about doing, I’m adding it to a list in my new Pirongs planner. If I see something round the house that needs doing, I’m doing it as soon as I’ve got time rather than leaving it – just little things, like putting shoes away or that little bit of washing up. It all adds up and just makes the place appear less cluttered up.

A Year Of More Little And Often

Which brings me on nicely to the ‘little and often’ approach I’m hoping to adopt. Whether it’s 10, 15 or 30 minutes a day – I’m doing shorter bursts of housework more often. If I know the kid’s tea is going in the oven and it’s going to take 20 minutes to cook, I’m seeing what I can get done in those 20 minutes before the timer goes off. It’s like a little challenge all on its own and it’s actually really refreshing to see what you can achieve in such a short amount of time. It also means that I’m taking the pressure of myself during other parts of the day where I could be working, seeing friends or getting out of the house for a walk.

A lot of this, at the moment, is very dependent on how needy Milo is being. He is, by far, the clingiest and most needy baby I’ve had so it’s no surprise that I tend to start things and never finish them because he needs something. Honestly, he doesn’t nap!

A Year Of Less Time Inside

I’ve become a bit of a hermit. I actually don’t mind my own company and being in my house for days at a time but I know it’s not healthy and I know it does the kids better to get out of the house at the weekend. With that in mind, I want to get out of the house a lot more this year, whether that be walking to the supermarket down the road instead of driving and getting the kids out of the house a lot more than we are at the weekend. This will be so much easier when we finally have (safe) access to our back garden again.

So those are my goals for this year. Not unachievable and totally within my capabilities. I’m hoping that all of these together will decrease my stress levels (because who doesn’t want to feel less stressed!), increase happiness in our home and family life and I hope it will help see us on our way to a life of less ‘stuff’ and more ‘us’.

The only thing I’m not keen on at the moment is less sleep. Now that I could definitely do with having some more of.